Everyone loves a sheet pan dinners! And this peri-peri chicken tray bake is going to become one of your new favorite easy meals!
The sweet potato, onion, corn and chicken breasts are all cooked together in the oven on one sheet pan. That makes for an easy dinner and an easy cleanup! In my eyes that is winner winner healthy chicken dinner.
You can make this traybake as mild or as spicy as you like. Perfect for the whole family. Don't forget the final wedge of lemon and dinner can be on the table!
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Tray Bakes AKA Sheet Pan Dinners
I love a good traybake/sheet pan dinner. Everything cooking together in one pan, infusing the flavors together and freeing you up to get on with something else (or sit with a glass of wine if you are up to date with the washing....is anyone ever up to date with their washing???)
Anyway, the point is that sheet pan dinners are EASY! But that doesn't mean they have to be boring! Just look at the gorgeous colors on the chicken, how much flavor is there!
Making sure everything cooks evenly.
So my issue with so many chicken sheet pan dinners is that once everything is on a tray together you have a timing dilemma, you need properly cooked potatoes/hard veg but you don't want chewy overcooked protein or soggy soft veggies!
So although this is all cooked in one tray, we are going to give our veggies a bit of a head start. The tray goes in the oven with the sweet potato, corn and onion wedges and these get to cook for a while before you add in the chicken. This also gives the chicken a bit of time to marinate in the peri peri seasonings!
Talking of marinades!
The chicken breasts can be left for 25 minutes (whilst the potatoes get started) or up to 24 hours. So get them ready when it suits you. I find popping the chicken into a dish with the spice mixture first thing in the morning, then leaving to chill out in the refrigerator all day gives it a wonderful flavor! Then you can just grab it out of the fridge, to come to room temp, whilst you start prepping and cooking the veg!
Peri Peri Seasoning
You can buy this in the grocery store or you can make your own. This is my Homemade Peri Peri Seasoning Recipe (I've also linked to it in the recipe card below) it is a simple mixture of easily accessible herbs and spices.
If you don't have time or the inclination to make you own then some of the storebought brands are great! (I know a friend swears by the Nando's seasoning blend) Just with the storebought ones, they often have more salt in so be careful with the seasoning of your chicken and veggies.
Cooking Chicken breasts in the oven
Chicken breasts have the potential for stardom or failure! They can be juicy tender dinners or dried out chewy dogs dinners!
We don't want to overcook our chicken. I find that when cooking chicken breasts in the oven it is best to go hot and fast. So the chicken is roasted at 450°F/230ºC for 16-18 minutes. This high temperature cooks the chicken quickly, meaning it loses less juice do it doesn't dry out.
If your chicken breasts are very thick they may need 18-20 minutes. You want the internal temperature to be 165ºF/74ºC.
I totally recommend buying a meat thermometer, they are maybe 10 bucks and you will never have overcooked chicken again!
Chopping the veg
I know what you are thinking...instructions for how to peel and chop a sweet potato aren't needed. And you're right 😉
All I will say is cut those sweet potatoes into nice chunky wedges. You want them to get some caramelization on them, but to still have some bulk so they hold up to the high cooking heat.
The same with the onions, they want to be in quarters so they don't disintegrate whilst cooking.
(TOP TIP - You can use any onions for this! I usually use red onions as they are prettiest when roasted, but we were all out on photo day!)
Enjoy x
If you are a fan of oven baked chicken then why not try:
- Easy Garlic Chicken Parcels
- Garlic Greek Chicken
- Dill Pickle Stuffed Chicken
- Baked Chicken with Tomatoes
- See all Oven Baked Chicken Recipes
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Peri Peri Chicken Tray Bake
Ingredients
For the chicken
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 chicken breasts
- 2 tablespoon Peri Peri seasoning - see note 1
For the veg
- 2 onions - see note 2
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 4 mini corn on the cobs - see note 3
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Peri Peri seasoning - see note 1
To serve
- Fresh cilantro
- 1 red chili
Instructions
To Marinate the chicken (see note 4)
- Place the chicken breasts in a dish, pour over the olive oil and sprinkle with peri-peri seasoning. Turn the chicken over a few times to ensure it is all coated, then set to one side - See Note 4
When you are ready to cook
- If the chicken has been marinating in the refrigerator remove it so it can come to room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 450ºF/230ºC.
- Peel the onions and cut them into quarters.
- Cut the sweet potatoes into wedges.
- Arrange the sweet potato, onion, and corn on the cobs on a large sheet pan (baking tray)
- Drizzle over the olive oil and then sprinkle with the 1 tablespoon of Peri-Peri seasoning.
- Roast in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Remove the sheet pan from the oven and rearrange the veg slightly to make four spaces for your chicken breasts.
- Add the chicken breasts to the sheet pan. Place back in the oven for 16-18 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the potatoes are tender. (see note 5)
- Serve with lemon wedges, fresh cilantro and some slices of red chili.
Notes
- You can buy peri-peri seasoning in the grocery store, or make your own batch up using my homemade peri-peri seasoning recipe. Most seasoning blends contain salt so the dish should be well seasoned. however, you can add more salt to taste.
- Any large round onions work here. Red onions look especially pretty but the standard brown onions will taste just as good.
- I either buy mini corn on the cob in the freezer section, or I will buy two large cobs and cut them in half. If they are frozen get them out of the freezer whilst you are chopping the other veg so they start to defrost.
- The chicken can be marinated all day or just for the 25 minutes that the veg cooks for first. If you are leaving it all day, mix it together, then cover it with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator, remove it from the fridge when you start dinner so it can get to room temperature. This is important as it means the chicken will cook more quickly and give you juicy chicken.
To marinate it just before dinner, mix the chicken together and cover with cling wrap, but leave it out of the fridge whilst you prep and cook the veg. This will ensure it is at room temperature. Please do not leave the chicken out of the refrigerator for more than two hours (1 hour if the temperature is 90ºF/32ºC) - If you have larger chicken breasts, it may need 18-20 minutes to cook through. You want the internal temperature to be 165ºF/74ºC. A meat thermometer is your best friend when it comes to perfectly cooked chicken breasts. They are inexpensive and take the guesswork out of it all!
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